Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most successful footballers of all time. He has won numerous trophies and individual awards, including five Ballon d’Or titles. The Portugal captain is now turning his attention to helping his country qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Ronaldo has been in superb form for Juventus this season, scoring 27 goals in 29 appearances across all competitions. His performances have helped the Old Lady win yet another Serie A title and reach the Champions League final, where they will face off against Lionel Messi’s Barcelona side.
Despite his success at club level, Ronaldo has yet to taste glory with Portugal at a major tournament. The Selecao came close to winning Euro 2016 on home soil, but they were ultimately beaten by Greece in the final.
Ronaldo will be 36 years old by the time the 2022 World Cup rolls around, but he shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. He will be desperate to lead Portugal to victory in Qatar and finally get his hands on a major international trophy.
Qualifying for the World Cup is never easy, but Ronaldo will be confident that Portugal can make it to Qatar if they can put together a strong campaign.
Cristiano Ronaldo eyes World Cup quarters Morocco dare to dream https://t.co/K8OjDlTY7Z
— Lovable Daniels (@lovable_daniels) December 6, 2022
After becoming the first player to score at five World Cups with a penalty kick in their first match against Ghana, he has huffed and puffed but has not scored again.
Portugal fans still disagree about whether Ronaldo should start, but coach Fernando Santos said he wasn’t paying attention to the raging debate.
He stated, “I do not read material of this kind.” It’s not that I don’t respect you; it’s just that we have three days to practice for a game and I’m not reading other news. We concentrate on the upcoming game.”
Santos stated that he anticipated a close matchup with Switzerland. In the UEFA Nations League in June, Portugal defeated Switzerland 4-0 before losing 1-0 in the reverse match.
African expectations
Morocco is the sole remaining group from Africa and the main Middle Eastern group left in Qatar.
As they attempt to reach the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time in their history, head coach Walid Regragui has urged his team to believe they can defeat formidable Spain.
If Morocco defeated the 2010 champions, they would become just the fourth African team to reach the last eight, joining Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002, and Ghana in 2010.
Regragui said, “We’ll come out swinging.” We want to fly the flag of Morocco very high. We are playing for our country and ourselves first and foremost.
“We want to make all Arabs and Africans happy. We need their prayers and support in order to have that extra edge we need to win. Before, we were only supported by Moroccans.
Spain began the competition with a strut, crushing seven objectives past Costa Rica before a draw with Germany and a loss against South Korea.
Before the World Cup, Luis Enrique, the coach, stated that he gave each of his players the “homework” of practicing 1,000 penalties because he is convinced that they are not a lottery.
On Monday against South Korea, Brazil put on a first-half masterclass thanks to Neymar’s return from injury. In the 36th minute, their talisman scored a goal from the penalty spot, giving Brazil a 4-0 lead.
Despite Paik Seung-ho’s thunderbolt late in the game, his team was outclassed on a disappointing night for Asian football.
Earlier, Croatia, led by Luka Modric, lost 3-1 on penalties to Japan after coming back from a goal down to equalize.
Dominik Livakovic, Croatia’s heroic goalkeeper, saved three penalties in the shootout.
With the exception of their loss to France in the final in Russia four years ago, seven of Croatia’s eight knockout games at major tournaments have gone to extra time.
On Friday, Brazil will play Croatia in the quarterfinals, and the Netherlands will play Argentina on the same day. On Saturday, England takes on France.